Naim Mu-so review: The Speaker That Redecorates Your Room

Naim is probably not a name that you'll immediately recognise, not unless a) you're very rich or b) you have a serious love of all things hi-fi.

Founded in 1973 it's a British-based audio brand that has become synonymous with building products that wouldn't go amiss in Kevin McCloud's living room yet sound like the front row at the Albert Hall.

So when a company like that decides to make an all-in-one speaker it is with a certain degree of excitement that we accepted delivery of a review unit.

What we got instead was not a wireless speaker system but in fact an extremely heavy block if exquisitely cut metal that just so happened to have the neat party trick of making your room look markedly more well thought through than before.

Now we're not saying our flat is in any way ugly, in truth it's actually quite nice, but when we put the Naim Mu-so in the corner it became abundantly clear that it had just elevated our social reputation by several large notches.

The glass foundation makes the huge metal body look like it's floating. The body itself is a block of anodised aluminium that wouldn't look out of place in the engine room of a luxury yacht.

It's huge as well, which could in theory be a problem, we say 'in theory' because we both know you'll just chuck out something less important out like a sofa to make room.

Once you've finally made room you can plug it in, sit back and enjoy the fruits of your toil (did we mention it's really really heavy).

Any residual back injury gained from carrying it will be immediately forgotten by the audible nectar that this thing is able to produce.

Six 75-watt amplifiers and six custom-built speakers push out over 450-watts of sound all which is then delivered in such a way that you'll feel like you've just had a warm bowl of honey poured over you.

What we mean to say is that while amazing, it's not a harsh sound, and in fact no matter what we threw at it -- musically speaking of course -- it still managed to contain what could have been a cacophony of shrill and harsh notes.

Some -- when we say 'some' we mean almost no one -- might find this sound a little too soft for their liking, and indeed it is not something we'd have traditionally picked for a Viking Metal fest.

That said when the overall performance is so good it's hard to imagine a single person that would have a problem, and even if they did, they'll be too busy admiring your outstanding choices in interior design to care.

It's important to note that because the Mu-so is wireless it'll be compatible with just about any musical format which then in turn means it'll only sound as good as the file you play.

Hook it up to an ethernet port and play some high-res audio and you'll feel like you're in a concert hall, but stream some YouTube music and you'll wonder what all the fuss is about.

The Mu-so is a total success, it's also a rather easy way of completely redecorating without completely redecorating. Think of it as the ultimate sidekick for all those dinner parties you'll start planning now you've got it.